Bruckheimer Boffo

Jerry Bruckheimer’s new year is starting off with a bang: The producer’s competing summer 2003 box office hits, Pirates of the Caribbean and Bad Boys II, took the top spots in both sales and rentals. His Will Smith – Martin Lawrence blockbuster beat out tough competition – including one cute clown fish, the governor of California, and a few hobbits stuck in Middle-earth. But it was no match for his Disney swashbuckler, which earned a reported $19.5 million from rentals alone and broke a record in first-week sales. Ahoy, matey!

ALEX & EMMA (PG-13, 96 mins., 2003, Warner) Luke Wilson and Kate Hudson star in a romantic comedy about a desperate author and the opinionated stenographer to whom he’s dictating his new novel.

ANYTHING ELSE (R, 108 mins., 2003, DreamWorks) An aspiring comedy writer (Jason Biggs) gets in over his head when he falls for a complicated free spirit (Christina Ricci) in Woody Allen’s latest offering.

FAMILY BUSINESS: THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON (Unrated, 4 hrs., 41 mins., 2003, Showtime) Peep inside the adult entertainment world in a reality-style show about porn entrepreneur and lovelorn single dad Adam Glasser, a.k.a. Seymore Butts.

L’AUBERGE ESPAGNOLE (R, 129 mins., 2003, Fox) A French college student (Romain Duris) leaves for an exchange program in Barcelona (much to the dismay of girlfriend Audrey Tautou) and majors in the lessons of life.